Cost Effective Single-Phase DSTATCOM for Low Power Applications

Abstract

In this article, a single-phase Distribution Static Compensator (DSTATCOM) with reduced dc-link voltage is proposed for power quality improvement in a distribution system. Generally, the dc-link voltage of DSTATCOM is maintained twice the peak of Point of Common Coupling (PCC) voltage by voltage regulation loop. But, the dc-link voltage is maintained itself without voltage regulation loop in the proposed method. For this case, the required dc-link voltage magnitude is less when compared to conventional method. Under predefined load conditions such as agriculture pump set loads, this less voltage is sufficient to give satisfactory performance. Therefore, the rating of DSTATCOM is reduced and thereby the cost of system is reduced. The proposed method enables compensation of reactive power and mitigation of source current harmonics in a distribution system for low power applications. The advantages of the proposed method are elimination of dc voltage sensing elements, minimization of switching loss of Voltage Source Inverter (VSI) and cost effective. The proposed single-phase DSTATCOM performance is demonstrated through MATLAB/simulink and validated by experimental results with agriculture pump set load.

Keywords:

• DC-link voltage
• DSTATCOM
• power quality
• reactive power
• switching loss

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hareesh Myneni

Hareesh Myneni received his M.Tech degree in electrical engineering from National Institute of Technology, Rourkela (NITRKL), India in 2012. Currently, he is a research scholar at the National Institute of Technology, Warangal (NITW), India. His research interests include power electronics applications in renewable energy systems, power quality and multi-level converters.

Siva Kumar Ganjikunta

Ganjikunta Siva Kumar received M.Tech degree in power electronics from JNTU College of Engineering, Hyderabad, India, in 2004 and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from IIT, Madras, Chennai, India, in 2013. Currently, he is working as an Assistant Professor with the Department of Electrical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Warangal, India from September 2013. He was the recipient of POSOCO Power System Award from Power Grid Corporation of India and FITT IIT Delhi, India in 2013 for his research work. His research interests include power quality, renewable energy systems, multilevel inverters, and microgrids.

Dharmavarapu Sreenivasarao

Dharmavarapu Sreenivasarao received his M.Tech. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India, in 2008 and 2014, respectively. He is currently an Assistant Professor with the National Institute of Technology Warangal, Warangal, India. His research interests include new converter topologies, modulation techniques for multilevel inverters, electric vehicles, power quality, and adjustable-speed drives.